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John A. Zoidberg
| species = Decapodian | age = Over 86 | planet = Formerly: Decapod 10 Currently: Earth | relatives = Father:Norm Zoidberg Mother: Sam Zoidberg Adoptive mother: Sadie Brothers: Norman Zoidberg, several unnamed Sistеrs: Several unnamed Uncle: Harold Zoid Cousin: Zoidfarb | job = Planet Express (Physician) | status = Alive | appearance = "The Series Has Landed" | voiced by = Billy West }} John A. Zoidberg,"M"D, better known as Zoidberg, (born May 5) (height: 5'8") (weight: 200 lbs.), is the heptagonist in Futurama. He was born on the Planet Decapod 10 and moved to Earth to practice medicine after giving up comedy once. Despite being a self-proclaimed expert on Humans, he called Philip J. Fry I "young lady" when they first met and has confused Fry and Bender. He speaks, as all Decapodians do, with a heavy Yiddish accent. He is the nephew of famed eccentric movie celebrity Harold Zoid. On a number of occasions, Zoidberg has made mention of Hermes Conrad being his best friend."How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" Zoidberg is actually the alien discovered in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947."Roswell that Ends Well" He seems to live in various places around the Planet Express building, notably the Dumpster, in which he has been seen numerous times looking for food and shelter. Zoidberg himself confessed to "living in a dumpster" in 3011, presumably the Planet Express building Dumpster."The Tip of the Zoidberg" A conversation John has with Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth suggests that he is only staying with Planet Express because of a life debt to the Professor. A series of flashbacks reveal that John first met and befriended Hubert in 2927, during a mission to kill a Tritonian Yeti for Carol Miller. During the mission, John is attacked by a Tritonian Yeti, but is saved by Hubert, who is scratched by the Tritonian Yeti. Hubert now fears that he has contracted Hyper-Malaria, a painful, fatal, incurable disease which can either strike instantly or remain dormant for years. He asks John to perform a mercy killing if he ever exhibits symptoms of the disease. Grateful for the Professor having saved his life and killing the Tritonian Yeti, John agrees. As a result, John is employed by the Professor for the purpose of carrying out the task. He is technically homeless and very poor, being a very unsuccessful "internal medicine doctor". Although claiming it was lost in a volcano, it is very likely that Zoidberg does not actually have a medical degree but rather has a doctorate in art history."The Duh-Vinci Code" Despite his professional incompetence, he has been drafted into the Democratic Order of Planets army as a MEAT surgeon."War is the H-Word" He is extremely poor and has stated several times that he has no home. Even worse, he is even treated like a social pariah by mostly everyone around him. Hermes considers him as practically a slave and does not hesitate in treating him like one. He usually eats from the trash or a dumpster, mistaking the trash for food and is envious of even the smallest amounts of money due to his lack of knowledge in currency and economics. Another factor of his poverty was mainly the fact that Hermes kept cutting Zoidberg's paychecks for no reason. He is excitable about his friends and is very trusting with the Planet Express crew. He appears to be rather fond of all of them, only really disliking Bender Bending Rodríguez. Most of the crew (except possibly Fry, Hubert, as well as Amy) finds John (or at least his species) to be disgusting as he will eat almost anything and his extreme "incompetence" as a doctor has done nothing for his popularity. Although, sometimes the rest of the crew will be nice or care for him, except maybe Hermes. A composite of numerous sea creatures, Zoidberg's features have been myriad. The most unique feature is his inability to feel physical pain. An example is in the episode "Roswell that Ends Well", Zoidberg is aware that he is getting dissected without anethesia but he doesn't feel any type of pain as he gets dissected. His known attributes include a removable exoskeleton, a retractable head fin that indicates arousal, aggression, or fear, an ink gland, a "stink gland", a gland that emits foul odors when he's bored, an empathy bladder, a gas bladder, a freshwater stomach, a saltwater stomach, four hearts, a throat that apparently produces psychedelic blue pearls, as well as a "wazoo". This last item is apparently some sort of sex organ, the place where the "male jelly" comes out for the mating of his species. It has been revealed that passing on genetic material is a life terminating event for these lobster people, so while the good doctor once informed Leo Wong that he 'took the liberty of fertilizing his caviar' for him, it remains ambiguous what actually transpired. Along with a "wazoo", Zoidberg also has gonopores, as revealed in Neutopia when everyone's gender is taken away, when he looks in his pants and promptly yells "My gonopores," and then tells everyone to "look it up.""Where the Buggalo Roam" Zoidberg reverted through several of the early "larval" life cycle stages of his species after being exposed to a youth tar. He seems to have started off as a small immobile creature from which asexually fragmented "brothers" could separate (each with a distinct personality). A later stage was a parasitic lamprey, followed by a large clam inside which his head was visible. The next oldest form resembled a trilobite. Other stages included a sea urchin and a cuttlefish."Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" Zoidberg is indirectly and unintentionally responsible for a number of disasters and misfortunes which befall Earth's people, including their enslavement by the Decapodians due to their overreaction of Zoidberg eating a flag and sentencing him to death after giving him an unfair trial. Due to his alleged overacting in a TV series finale, the people of Earth are denied the Omicronian recipe for eternal life. He is also partially responsible for the near sale of Planet Express to MomCorp, due to foolishly trading all of his stocks to That Guy for a sandwich, which grew moldy because he kept it in his coat pocket. That near sale was, however, mainly Fry's fault. Romance(s) Even though Zoidberg is generally disliked by everybody he comes into contact with, he did manage to find a little romance with a Lobster at the Hipster Club when Amy Wong took Turanga Leela out to find a man, walking out with the lobster in his arms after the bar closed."Love's Labours Lost in Space" He also had fallen in love with Edna, but the feelings weren't mutual: Edna fell in love with Philip J. Fry I instead. He and the Jellyfish Monster (who also served as his field nurse during the war) were seen sharing a glass of wine on the Titanic."Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?". He is ultimately revealed to be currently married to an unknown wife in "Benderama" when Hubert shredded his wedding album to make two small sweaters. It is unknown who Zoidberg's wife is, but it is safe to assume they're not together anymore. In the episode "Stench and Stenchibility", Zoidberg falls in love with a flower merchant with no sense of smell called Marianne. After gaining a nose, Marianne enjoys Zoidberg's scent, as she had never learned a good smell from a bad smell. The two are presumed to have an ongoing relationship, as they are last seen together driving off in a garbage truck. Personality He is portrayed as a dumb, incompetent doctor due to his frequent surgical mishaps and misdiagnoses but he shows he is far from stupid as he shows he has knowledge in alien anatomy (not human, though he is a self-proclaimed "human expert") and has a Ph.D. in Art History. It was even questioned as to why the Professor does not fire him until it is revealed that he is a long time friend and crew member of Hubert's. Thus, the Professor won't fire him even though he has shown to be vastly incompetent at his job and is hated by most of his co-workers. Out of all the Planet express crew members, Zoidberg is considered to be the most caring and innocent member of the crew. He is a sweet and lovable guy who just wants a friend to hang out with but for some reason most people dislike him, especially Hermes. Despite this, Zoidberg considers everyone to be his friend. However, out of all his co-workers (besides the Professor) Fry is the only one that treats John decently and refers to Zoidberg as a friend. At Fry's memorial in "Bender's Big Score", when Leela stated they would all miss Fry, John reveals that "He was the only one of you who never struck me!" He does not even have the guts to stand up to bullies and instead acts in a cowardly fashion towards them. He tries his hardest to prove that he is a trustworthy guy and he is constantly nice towards other people. The ostracism he receives from the Planet Express crew and society causes him to be a very lonely person. He is even unaware that Hermes bullies him constantly and he does not dare to ask Hermes why he hates him so much. Despite this heavy unawareness, Zoidberg like any other employee, has a fear of getting fired. However in the episode "The Six Million Dollar Mon", Zoidberg finally learns of Hermes' dislike of him and lets out his pent up feelings towards Hermes calling the latter a "big jerk" who was selfish and stupid that didn't deserve a friend like him. Trivia * His catchphrase is "HOORAY!" * He has a girlfriend named Marianne near the end of the series * He also shouts "WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP!" multiple times in a row often, he is always shown doing this while he is running away in different directions while scared and also wants to escape from someone who is angered. In the episode "The Tip of the Zoidberg" this is shown to sandcrabbing. *Zoidberg's birthday, May 5, is the day after Amy's."Time Keeps On Slippin'" but the Planet Express Crew always forgets his birthday. *Zoidberg is one of those who went inside Fry's body in "Parasites Lost". *Zoidberg's medical specialty is declaring people medically dead, whether they are or not. He is also very skilled in suturing hands back together, especially with human hands. *Zoidberg had a brief acting career, having played a minor role in The Magnificent Three. *His uncle, Harold Zoid, is a legendary movie director and actor and an Oscar winner. *Even though he is poor, he somehow obtained the money to buy the new EyePhone in "Attack of the Killer App". *It is revealed in "Bendless Love" that he has a pet Slinky, which is actually his favorite toy. *Zoidberg is often forced to clean up messes around the Planet Express building by the other employees, even when the mess was made by everyone, though this should be Scruffy Scruffington's job. *When John received $300 from the mass tax refund, he thought he was rich. This shows that Zoidberg is bad at economics. In "Viva Mars Vegas" he was shown to have collected and saved several pennies in his jar which he thought would be enough for him to do gambling, even though this only amounted to perhaps only a few dollars. Amy has known John to have primitive habits on managing money and this leads to Amy lambasting Zoidberg for being poor, though she apologizes to him for that later on. Part of the reason why Amy lambasted Zoidberg for being poor was because Amy herself was the daughter of a rich couple. *He is an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters along with Hubert, Amy and Hermes. *In Bender's Big Score, Zoidberg reveals that Fry is the only member of Planet Express to never strike him. *In the episode "The Silence of the Clamps", it is revealed that the only reason he is a member of Planet Express is to snip and cut, as well as is extremely sensitive about this role. However it was also revealed in "The Tip of the Zoidberg" that he was a member of Planet Express for the sole purpose of performing euthanasia on Professor Farnsworth because Hubert was sick with yetiism, which was mistaken for hypermalaria. *He once managed to beat the ever-living daylights out of a Mob Enforcer with his bare claws. *John and Hubert have been friends since 2927."The Tip of the Zoidberg" in the year 2927.]] * As of the statement above, it is indicated that John is older than 80. Presumably in his 100's as Zoidberg in the photo looks in his 20's *Zoidberg is a competent physician, but not for humans. He is competent in the anatomy of aliens and even Carol recognizes his skillfulness with aliens."The Tip of the Zoidberg" *In addition to his fake medical degree, he says to have mail-ordered murderology and murderonomy degrees."Anthology Of Interest I" *He is the only known being to be deemed "good" by Robot Santa Claus as he was given a pogo stick as a gift. The reason for this could be an error in the Santa Claus or because of his kind and innocent personality."Xmas Story". *It was once revealed that he lives in one of Professor Farnsworth's inventions. However, he officially lives in his dumpster due to his poverty. The closest he ever got to having a real home was when he made one out of a seashell only to have it burned down by Bender despite the fact that it was underwater. *Despite his poor skills as a comedian, he is shown to be very skilled at ventriloquism. *Zoidberg is one of two characters who are known primarily by their surname: the other is Fry. Leela doesn't count as it's revealed in A Leela of Her Own that Turanga is Leela's family name. * Frequently makes a "whooping" sound, which is based on Curly from The Three Stooges. * He has a gland which generates foul odors when bored, as he demonstrated in Bender's Big Score * He never actually said the famous meme "Why not Zoidberg" throughout the series, however he did say it in a DVD promo for Volume 7 * He has a Doctorate Degree in Art History, as seen in "the Duh-Vinci Code" * He is said to smell like a burning zoo Behind the Scenes In the development process for the show, David X. Cohen looked to the original Star Trek series for inspiration. Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy often operated on alien species, so they decided to have an alien doctor that served the human crew and as the series unfolded it became clear that John's medical ability was lacking with humans but highly skilled with aliens, which makes him a spoof of Dr. McCoy. Additionally, Zoidberg's character also took on other running jokes: he became poor, lonely, as well as a failed comedian in addition to being a horrible doctor. The name "Zoidberg" comes from a game for the Apple II, that Cohen developed when he was in high school. Although Zoid was never picked up, it became the basis for Zoidberg's name. The voice for Dr. Zoidberg was developed by Billy West, influenced by actors Lou Jacobi and George Jessel.http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/06/15/billy-west-the-tv-squad-interview Gallery Zoidberg cameo in duck dodgers.jpg|Zoidberg in an episode of Duck Dodgers. Tip of the zoidberg.png Futuramatipofthezoidberg.png ZoidbergTeenager.jpg 500 foot tall Zoidberg and The Apollo Theater.png ZoidbergWithFlag.jpg Zoidberghead.png Hermeszoid-1.png Female Zoidberg.jpg|Female Zoidberg Sources es:John A. Zoidberg Category:Planet Express Crew Category:Globetrotters Category:Characters Category:Aliens Category:Decapodians Category:Main Characters Category:Articles in need of citation Category:Military Category:Males Category:Photo Pop Characters Category:Doctor Category:Zoidberg Family Category:Physicians